By the time Sera Mey granted Roach the title Geshe, in 1995, some of his critics in the Buddhist community suspected that it was because of his money, not his holiness. According to one ranking monk, he "circumvented nearly 12 years of debate time. It is highly unusual. I have never heard of such an exception being made."

'Michael Roach, and his partner Lama Christie, at their yurt on a mountain top near Bowie, Arizona. The two practicing buddhists have a vow to always be within 15 feet of each other!" What happened....she gravitated towards Thorston? All the empty, syrupy statements, all the hyperbole!The really sad part is that these people were teaching others.

Everything began when he was officially disapproved by his own masters and monastery. You can't be a master of vajrayana if you have no lineage (or no respect to your lineage, or to your master). You can then still be a master, a buddhist master, but not a true Tibetan Buddhism master.

smcj wrote:Stuff like this is why I don't suggest to people to become Buddhists.

I suggest people not to go into Tibetan Buddhism. Unless they really, really feel attracted to it.

There are way too many pitfalls, too many ways to fall into the "spiritual materialism" trap, charlatans out there... Your sanga will have a lot of new-agers that will mix everything with angels, indigo kids and such. Then the tradition requieres a lot of time and effort to be genuinely understood or appreciated. And there is no "salvation guaranteed or your money back".

Plus you have to endure attacks, criticism, and derision from the people on the Theravada camp.

He insists the tragedy of Thorson's death at Diamond Mountain is a matter of the past. "I will talk about Diamond Mountain if you want, but in three months nobody will care about what happened there. In a year, everyone will have forgotten about it." He spoke with the certainty of a man who believes he can make his own reality. He says that Diamond Mountain's days as a school are numbered anyway. "We should just make it online."

McNally is sad to hear this but not surprised. Roach, she says, told her he "hated the place" and used to call it "Demon Mountain" in private.